SAP, or Systems Analysis and Program Development, is the leading provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) capabilities, and it offers comprehensive modules and applications that automate core workflows, manage costs, pricing, and profits more efficiently, and enhance quality control functions across your organization.

SAP Business ByDesign offers a more affordable and functional way to manage your entire business through a single, integrated solution that brings together Financial Management, Purchasing, Procurement, Inventory Management, Customer Relationship Management, and more in the same place.

Read on to learn how the customizable SAP Business ByDesign solution can drive growth and profitability across departmental borders, as well as where our team of SAP consultants can fit in your organization.

What is SAP Business ByDesign ERP?

SAP Business ByDesign is a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution designed to help rapidly-growing, mid-market companies expand their ERP capabilities and manage their entire business through one integrated system.

The Business ByDesign application delivers pre-built solutions across your organization to streamline end-to-end processes, scale and adapt business functions to meet growing business needs, and improve profits and process efficiencies through in-depth analytics and insights.

With Business ByDesign, SAP users are enabled to…

  • Connect a wide range of business processes across the entire organization
  • Leverage more transparent operations to boost profit margins and improve productivity
  • Localize business functions across international locations and operations
  • Scale operations without unnecessary complexity and added costs
  • Gain greater insights into core operational data to make more informed decisions

Industry-Specific Capabilities of SAP Business ByDesign

While the Business ByDesign solution is designed to improve business processes, improve customer management, and enhance the extensibility of your ERP system across your organization, it also offers industry-specific capabilities and integrated functionality to streamline operations across the board.

Here are a few industry-specific capabilities to help your organization keep up in an ever-changing and rapidly-growing world…

Professional Services

  • Gain real-time insight into projects to maximize value for clients
  • Automate professional service processes and connect them across organizations
  • Access customer lifecycle data to understand service offerings more efficiently
  • Manage finances, track time and optimize procurement processes
  • Evaluate project and client profitability to meet portfolio goals

Manufacturing

  • Leverage a real-time view of manufacturing operations from start to finish
  • Improve overall efficiency of your discrete manufacturing processes
  • Reduce complexity in channel and partner management to meet customer demand
  • Gain a comprehensive view of customer data to improve customer satisfaction

Wholesale Distribution

  • Optimize inventory levels and working capital to reduce operational costs
  • Improve forecasting accuracy and meet consumer demand
  • Improve efficiency of production planning, inventory management, and overall supply chain operations
  • Keep expectations consistent across your organization, regardless of channel or region

Key SAP Business ByDesign Modules

Here are the core modules and capabilities included within the SAP Business ByDesign solution…

Financial Management

With SAP Business ByDesign, organizations can not only streamline financial and managerial accounting functions, but they can also improve data transparency to gain a better view of their overall financial condition.

On one hand, Business ByDesign offers improved accounting management tools to more accurately and efficiently manage accounts across multiple different business units, monitor changes in currency, and keep up with updated reporting standards.

On the other, the solution also allows SAP users to leverage supplier and customer data to gain real-time visibility into their financial operations and improve the management of cash and liquidity across the board.

Project Management

SAP Business ByDesign offers real-time collaboration and monitoring capabilities and built-in integrations with other systems to manage projects of any size, scale, or complexity with ease.

Real-time analytics capabilities and improved collaboration across business units can not only help companies manage and deliver projects on-time and within budget, but also enable project teams to run more efficient, effective, and profitable projects in the long run.

The Business ByDesign solution also provides key integrations between SAP and Microsoft Teams to allow users to access Business ByDesign features easily and promote digital transformation across teams with a single, unified solution.

Customer Relationship Management

SAP ByDesign offers the functionality needed for users to automate the sales process, improve account management for customers, and drive customer engagement across your organization.

This comprehensive solution also provides more effective customer data management functions to improve campaign effectiveness, navigate sales team handovers more efficiently, and generate more qualified leads for your marketing team.

The SAP Business ByDesign application gives employees and managers the tools needed to facilitate better engagement across customer groups, boost employee and customer satisfaction, improve the customer experience from start to finish.

Human Resource Management

When it comes to managing your people in the most efficient way possible, having a comprehensive solution that can streamline Human Resources (HR) processes and improve workforce administration efficiency is critical to your success.

SAP Business ByDesign helps organizations enhance Human Capital Management (HCM) processes from hire to retire, including the simplification of core onboarding functions and the ability to automate and manage employee requests and approvals more easily.

The solution also offers improved time, attendance, and labor management functions to centralize self-service and data management functions in one place and manage time and compensation more effectively across the board.

With SAP Business ByDesign, users are given the tools and resources needed to accurately manage timesheets on their own, monitor core procurement processes, and facilitate more efficient payroll processing functions through built-in interfaces with third-party payroll providers.

Procurement

To help your organization manage product and supplier data more accurately and save time and money in the long run, SAP Business ByDesign offers advanced procurement features and capabilities, including planning, sourcing, and purchasing.

With the Business ByDesign solution, SAP users can not only improve the management of supplier contracts and price negotiations through a centralized database, but they can also streamline purchasing activities and boost buyer engagement with real-time data.

Supply Chain Management

SAP Business ByDesign offers core Supply Chain Management (SCM) tools and enhancements to not only improve supply and demand matching, but also improve supply chain visibility, flexibility, and extensibility to streamline collaboration between suppliers and customers.

The Business ByDesign solution provides enhanced analytics capabilities to give users a more in-depth view of supply chain models to ensure supply layouts are configured and setup properly. And, with advanced planning and control functions, SAP Business ByDesign users can also control material flows throughout the organization, automate supply chain processes, and produce high-quality products more efficiently.

Main Advantages of SAP Business ByDesign

1) Adaptability and Scalability 

The SAP Business ByDesign solution is built for growth, meaning that your company can scale and extend business capabilities and add or modify configurations as needed to keep with growth and change throughout your organization or the industry as a whole.

2) Reduced Complexities

Business ByDesign offers customization capabilities to tailor your solution to meet individual business needs and provide a centralized source for business operations and data management functions. And, with customizable solutions and a single source of truth, organizations can also reduce costs and drive profitable revenue in the long run.

3) Improve Sales Performance

With Business ByDesign, companies can increase sales volume and enhance customer service by leveraging advanced systems analysis capabilities and offering customizable solutions to meet evolving business and industry needs.

The solution also enhances data accessibility and customer satisfaction and loyalty by allowing customers to compile data from multiple sources (i.e., Sales, Shipping, and Finance departments) and house them in a single, up-to-date solution.

4) Enhance Visibility and Control

Business ByDesign offers advanced planning, forecasting, and analysis capabilities to enhance data visibility and facilitate better information control across business units. With this, the comprehensive ERP solution also provides tools that help companies improve data privacy and protection for even your most confidential data.

SAP Business ByDesign vs S/4HANA Cloud

SAP S/4HANA is a cloud ERP system built in SAP’s in-memory database and is designed to enable real-time data processing for larger volumes of data and leverage machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) functionality to help optimize digital transformation initiatives across business units.

Let’s take a closer look at the key capabilities of each solution…

Key Capabilities of Business ByDesign

  • Comprehensive suite of applications designed for the SMB market
  • Tailored to unify business functions and meet needs of fast-growing businesses
  • Support for multiple deployment methods, including Desktop (i.e., Windows, Mac OS X) Cloud, and Mobile (i.e., Android, iOS)
  • Localization capabilities to cater to international market needs (i.e., Europe, China, U.S.)
  • Support for a wide range of languages (i.e., English, Chinese, French, Italian, etc.
  • 24/7 support through email, phone, FAQs, forums, and other knowledge bases
  • Improved training through documentation, in-person and live videos, and online webinars

Key Capabilities of S/4HANA Cloud

  • Designed to help small to large-size businesses enhance the ERP solution functionality
  • SAP Cloud ERP software powered by AI and advanced data analytics
  • Deployment support for on-premise, cloud, and desktop (i.e., Windows, Linux, Mac OS X) implementation projects
  • Functionality for markets in Europe, North America, and South America
  • Support for only one language — English
  • 24/7 assistance through live representatives and chatrooms
  • Enhanced training documentation, in-person sessions, live videos, and online webinars

SAP Business ByDesign vs Business One

SAP Business One (SAP B1) is a comprehensive ERP solution designed to help smaller enterprises streamline workflows, leverage business intelligence functions to improve visibility, and optimize business performance.

Let’s take a look at a few key capabilities and differences of the SAP Business One and SAP Business ByDesign solutions…

Key Capabilities of Business ByDesign

SAP Business ByDesign is designed to withstand scaled growth throughout your organization or industry to help users keep up with new features and functionality through automatic updates and maintain a high level of privacy and security for supplier and consumer data.

Here are a few key features of the solution…

  • Number of Users Supported: 20 – 1000 (i.e., Mid-Market to Large Companies)
  • Target Industry: Distribution, Project and Service-Based Companies, Manufacturing 
  • Deployment Method: Cloud ERP system

Key Capabilities of SAP Business One

While this the SAP Business One solution does offer a more lean set of core ERP modules and caters to the needs of small businesses, it does not provide enhanced automation capabilities to keep up with system updates and requires companies to provide their own security measures.

Here are a few key features of the solution…

  • Number of Users Supported: 5 -100 (i.e., Small to Lower-Midsize Companies)
  • Target industry: Trading, Manufacturing, Distribution
  • Deployment Method: On-Premise System

How Can We Help?

Whether you need help implementing a new SAP Business ByDesign solution across your organization, additional support integrating Business ByDesign functionality with the SAP Analytics Cloud or other SAP Business Intelligence solutions, or anything in between, Surety Systems is here to help.

Our team of senior-level SAP consultants has the technical skills, functional expertise, and real-world experience needed to manage your core business processes in SAP and enhance project management success in the long run.

Getting Started with Us

Interested in learning more about our SAP consulting services?

Ready to get started on a project to enhance the functionality and efficiency of your SAP ERP solution?

Contact us today to get connected with one of our expert SAP consultants!